Letter home: February 2025

 Hola from Argentina!!

I hope this finds you well and surviving the wind and rain of tail end of winter. Not too long until spring though!!

Ican’t believe I have been in Argentina for 6 weeks. I still pinch myself that I’m actually here !! 


It’s been an adventure! I  spent 3 weeks studying intensive Spanish (still very poor!!) and a further week sightseeing in Buenos  Aires.  I visited the colourful La Boca district, the ancient port of the city and the famous  Recolleta cemetery - a weird  and eery mini city where an entire block is made up of mini mausoleums full of multiple remains.

I next took a 5 hour flight down to the far south to Ushuaia, the most southerly city in the world and controversially the capitol of Malvines (the Faulklands) this was a change from 35* of humidity to 10* crisp dry sea air which  plummeted to -5* towards the end of my stay. Only really accessible in the summer (now). The air was so fresh and whistled down from the glaciers and Patagonians mountain ranges . I hiked  a lot - up to Marsal glacier ( apparently  the equivalent of 200 flights of steps) and to the  wonderful green lake Esmerelda. I stayed in a wood and corrugated iron coast house on the side of the mountain overlooking the Beagle Sound. Days were long and the sun strong even though it was cold. There was a lot of barking dogs. In Buenos Aires they were small and well behaved - here they were big, roaming free  in packs and a bit intimidating.


I had hoped to travel up through the Patagonian mountains but it proved too complicated so I flew west and spent 10 days with an Argentinian friend from Hereford at San Clemete de Tuyu at her family beach house . Lovely warmth again and jumping waves in the Atlantic with her two little girls.


Yesterday I arrived in San Carlos for Bariloche. The Lake District of Argentina backing into Chile. It’s beautiful here too - the landscape is so enormous, the skies so blue. I’m here for a few weeks - I’m doing slow travel as I work a little each day and take time to get to know the area. 

Next stop is Santiago in Chile, briefly,  and then Easter Island - how amazing will that be?


I have been adding to my travel blog ‘Have TEFEL will travel’  which you can read here if you have a mind to



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Swimming with turtles. Rapa Nui/Easter Island 2025

Image
I have been swimming in the evenings here on Easter Island. The last two nights in two sea pools in the town, although Hango Ros is more of a village that a town.   Tonight I was paddling in Pea Beach - its a  tiny beach, only 30m wide. I waded it- thankfully some sand amidst the rocks and it was full of turtles!! I’m ashamed to say I screamed and fell over when I bumped into me the first time- I was terrified it was going to bite me as my mums terrapins were dreadful nippers!   When I regained my feet I asked a couple of women near me if they bite- they assured me not. The next couple of bumps I got it down to an exclamation or two but on the whole I think I am more comfortable as yet with a ‘no touching policy’. There were at least 5 around me all different sizes. Humans are not supposed to touch or feed - but the turtles were very touchy feely!! What a privilege though 🙏🏼🙌🏼🥰
Read more

Airport Diaries 2

Image
 I have been finding it stressful to be on the move and  it feels like continually looking  for accommodation .  Back in the UK my plan was to go to 5 different places in 5 months but the lure of beautiful places , the difficulty of getting to some places , of finding affordable accommodation as in El Calafate , in Patagonia, has been challenging and meant I am on the move more than I had anticipated. However uncertainty and changing plans has  also meant I can change direction (literally and head east before I headed west. Where to hang my 3 hats (made another one and bought a third in Ushuaia - you know me and hats) has been a learning curve, from my hostel  on a dodge edge of San Telmo  to a roof-top pool air bnb in Palermo Holywood to the wonderful view from the Lighthouse with the hairy hound on Ushuaia Everywhere has been different.  My recent  diversion west instead of north east brought me to sunny, relaxing and friendly San Clemente ...
Read more

Letter home from Cordoba April 2025

Image
  I wanted to share with you some photos from the school I have been volunteering at in Córdoba in the north west of the country. The reason for my visit has it origins in my summer school teaching in Oxford last year  a group of students and their 2 teachers, Carol and Joe, came from Córdoba and invited me to visit during my trip. I’ve have had a wonderful time. I can’t properly describe the warmth and love I have been treated with here. Argentinians are very warm and friendly and once you have met them that’s it, friends for life! The staff have taken me into their hearts and it was difficult to leave this week. On Tuesday Ceci invited us all to tea at her apartment and laid on a fabulous spread that she and her mother in-law had been cooking for days. I was very honoured that Miss Pamela joined us. Miss Pamela and her sister founded the school 30 years ago. They started with an English language school but then build the  Mark Twain Academy for 3-18 year olds . Hilariou...
Read more